AN IMPORTANT AND RARE PAIR OF WILLIAM AND MARY BLACK-PAINTED MAPLE 'LEATHER-BACK' SIDE CHAIRS, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1725 |

each retains their original leather upholstery and surface.

Ginsburg & Levy Inc., New York, May 1970;
Vogel Collection no. 79.

Brock Jobe, "The Boston Furniture Industry: 1720-1740, "Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, Walter Muir Whitehead ed., The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Boston, 1974, p. 40, fig. 29. Wendy A. Cooper, In Praise of America: American Decorative Arts, 1650-1830, (New York: Knopf, distributed by Random House, 1980), p. 63, fig. 80.

Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Era, Selections from the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1984, p. 341, fig. 91b.

These chairs remarkably retain their original surface, leather upholstery, nails, and tacks. Overall excellent condition. Wear commensurate with age and use. Few, old age cracks throughout. A 2 by 1 ½-inch hole in the leather. Losses to applied band of leather on seat rails. Scratches, cracks and punctures to the upholstery consistent with age and use. The carved laminate foot facing of each brush foot is lacking. Width: 18 in.; Depth of seat: 14 3/4 in.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This is the finest pair of Boston ‘leather-back’ chairs that survive.  Each retains their original surface and leather. As described in depth in a forthcoming article on Boston’s early Baroque seating furniture, this ogee-crested chair with molded stiles was a major export good for Boston. Chairs like these were exported to nearly all of the early eighteenth century North American colonies and likely even to major cities in the Caribbean.  The account books for Bostonian, Thomas Fitch, list the sale of numerous ‘crooked’ chairs to both Boston residents and sending them on various ships to New York and Philadelphia. For additional information on related chairs, see Erik K. Gronning, “Luxury of Choice: Boston’s Early Baroque Seating Furniture,” American Furniture 2018, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 2018).